To Earn 'A' In This Class, You Must Get Rid Of Bias

RELIGION

Jews aren't always rich, blacks don't like being on welfare, and Catholics have minds of their own and don't just blindly follow their pope.

Those are some of the things Adele Azar tries to teach as she works to bash prejudicial stereotypes.

For the past three years, Azar has been Central Florida director of the National Coalition Building Institute. The Boston organization holds workshops to give people a chance to learn what is right and wrong about their concepts of those who are different from them.

Cherie Brown, the founder of the 6-year-old organization, will lead a two-day workshop at Rollins College in Winter Park on Monday and Tuesday. She will spend time with at least 30 people seeking help to confront and overcome prejudice.

''What the workshop does is create a safe place for people to talk about their oppression,'' Azar said. She said those who are not oppressed by prejudice may be carrying guilt for intolerance they or others have displayed.

The workshop, which costs $80 per person, is designed to reach a variety of people. For example, next week's session will include some Orange County deputy sheriffs, teachers and church educators. The participants will represent a variety of races and religions.

Azar said one group the institute likes to reach are religious leaders.

''We expect the leaders not to be prejudiced,'' she said. ''We expect the priests not to be prejudiced, but they have been hurt too . . . and those experiences are going to be in their lives when they minister to others.''

In addition, members of different religious groups learn more about each other when they come together, Azar said.

Before her involvement with the National Coalition Building Institute, Azar, a former nun, was not often exposed to different groups of people.

During the workshop, she helps people realize that those who are prejudiced are victims as well as those who are treated in a prejudicial manner.

''The oppressor is a victim because he has been robbed of the information to be a total human being,'' she said. ''The principle that we operate on is no one mistreats someone else unless they have been mistreated.''

Numerous kinds of prejudices surface during the workshop - against ethnic groups, genders and people who are rich, handicapped, young, or old.

''What keeps coming up is oppression, how people have been oppressed and how we oppress ourselves,'' she said.

Stopping discriminatory acts, like racial slurs or harmful jokes, isn't easy but is possible, Azar said. Through role-playing, the workshop suggests ways to intercept bigotry without hurting the person who has revealed a prejudice.

''It's an art, but you can do it,'' she said. ''You don't have to tolerate it.''

The local chapter has five trainers leading prejudice reduction workshops, but Azar hopes it will soon have more. Already, they have worked with principals and student leaders and they will meet with managers at Walt Disney World in June.

Azar does not say the changes happen quickly, but people leave the workshops having learned something.

''Consciousness is raised,'' she said. ''People go out and they're different. We get it out on the table.''

For more information about the upcoming workshop, call Azar at (407) 539-0180.